Silver Article

One thing that immediately came to mind when I read Silver’s article was the obvious question of how accurate it was.  Immediately one red flag that emerged was the study about how Americans had fewer close confidants than ever before.  It was a 2006 study that Silver cited, as the chart I am attaching back in 2006 Facebook did not have nearly the market penetration it has now.  To be honest Americans started to lose close confidants well before Facebook began to dominate social interactions.  That would suggest that the cause of the loss in close friendships wasn’t as much social media as it was other factors that changed in society.  In fact, the study even concludes by suggesting that social media might help counter the effect of this demise in close confidants. 

On the other hand, Facebook was hardly the first social media project.  Before it there was MySpace, chartrooms, and a plethora of other forms of electronic interaction.  Any social effects of social media would have been felt long before facebook showed up on the scene.  Anonymous message boards where people don’t disclose their own identity certainly can make Silver’s hypothesis true, after all how can you be friends with someone you don’t even know the name of?